938 Killed As Maliki Continues His Obstinate Push To Remain Leader of Iraq

The full extent of the troubles that have befallen the
Yazidi people of northern Iraq has not yet come to light, but the fighting for
their land continues. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to
consider stepping aside for Iraq’s sake. At least 938 people were killed and
107 more were wounded.

Many of the dead are Yazidis, dying from exposure were they have taken refuge
or by execution at the hands of the Islamic State. Several bombs in Baghdad
took more civilians lives. Over three hundred militants were killed, mostly
in airstrikes.

Politics:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his weekly speech, cautioned
everyone against selecting a new premier through unconstitutional means and
admonished outside interference in Iraq politics. He was likely referring to
Iran. Iran has been Maliki main benefactor, but now appears to be singing a
different tune.

Although Iran is couching the change as a position the country’s leaders have
maintained for a while, Iran is only now openly
suggesting that Iraq cannot take another term of Maliki’s sectarian politics.
They claim that Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has come over to
their way of thinking, but Iraq’s most important Shi’ite leader had been already
been calling on Maliki to step aside for weeks.

Meanwhile, a Samarra police official and a Sunni tribal leader both confirmed
that Shi’ite militiamen set fire to Saddam Hussein‘s mausoleum in Awja.
Saddam’s remains were secretly moved several months ago over fears that something
like this could happen. Unconfirmed are rumors that the graves of his sons,
Uday and Qusay, were desecrated.

The Northern Front:

According to Hallo Penjweny, a senior official from the Iraqi party
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (P.U.K.), fighters from the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (P.K.K.) are
in charge of restoring Kurdish control of Sinjar, but another official
warned that it will be a few days before they can assure the Yazidis
hiding in the nearby mountains safe passage. Until then, the refugees are receiving
emergency rations of food and water via helicopter
airdrops. But, it is not enough for everyone.

Penjweny also said
that fighters associated with the Democratic Union Party (P.Y.D.), a
Syrian group have retaken Rabeaa. The Peshmerga are currently handling operations
at Zumer and Makhmour. But, Makhmour and Gwar have
apparently fallen
and Qara Qosh is not far behind. Al-Shallalat has also been captured.

The P.K.K. is a guerilla group that had been fighting in Turkey for
an independent Kurdish homeland. They are listed as a terrorist group there,
but they have recently
begun peace negotiations with the Turkish government, after a decades-long
war. The fighters may have already been in Iraq, as the P.K.K. maintained their
secret bases on Iraqi land.

The P.Y.D. is affiliated to the P.K.K. and banned in Syria,
but the group says it wants autonomy within a new Syria as opposed to the
P.K.K.’s goal of an independent Kurdistan. Their fighters were reported in
Rabeaa almost immediately after the takeover in Sinjar.

The strategic losses have forced
the Kurdish region to begin talks with Baghdad over military
cooperation, according to Jabbar Yawar, who is the secretary-general of
the ministry overseeing the Peshmerga forces. He warned that the Peshmerga
strategy of defense must now change to offense. There had been an uneasy truce
between the Islamic State and the Kurdish military along most of the frontier
between the two states.

At least 500 people have been executed in Sinjar and
surrounding villages, according to lawmakers. That is up by 412
deaths from the previously known 88 killed. Also another 110
people died from lack of food and water up on Sinjar Mountain. Hundreds are
missing.
They are feared dead or captured.

In Mosul, held by Islamic State militants since June, air strikes left
at least 30 killed, many of them possibly detainees. The militants were using
a jail as a base of operations. Iraqi State TV said sixty militants were
killed in the attack. A drone may have been involved in this operation.
Also, about 300 prisoners escaped
their militant captors.

The Shi’ite Turkmen town of Amerli proudly maintains its independence
from the militants but at a great cost. Dozens of fighters there need care for their
injuries. They are looking for help from the Iraqi air force. There may be a
way to bomb a secure route from the town to Tuz Khormato.